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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29252004">His Hat in His Hands</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatHCWriter/pseuds/ThatHCWriter'>ThatHCWriter</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Death, Death Switch, F/M, Gen, Good Parent Jim "Chief" Hopper, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jim "Chief" Hopper Lives, Lonnie Byers Being an Asshole, Protective Jim "Chief" Hopper, Protective Jonathan Byers, background Lonnie Byers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:47:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,966</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29252004</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatHCWriter/pseuds/ThatHCWriter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim Hopper makes it out of that secret Russian base, but he makes it out alone. </p><p>So when he sees Will and Jonathan, confused and looking for their mother, he takes his hat into his hands, and prepares to give the hardest talk of his life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eleven | Jane Hopper &amp; Jim "Chief" Hopper, Jonathan Byers &amp; Joyce Byers, Jonathan Byers &amp; Will Byers, Joyce Byers &amp; Will Byers, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Simply put, this is a Joyce dies instead of Hop AU, taking a look at some of the consequences of such a switch. Oneshot for now, might be longer. </p><p>No huge warnings, aside from general sadness.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Jim Hopper walked out onto the dark parking lot of what used to be Starcourt Mall, time itself began to slow. The blaring sirens and blinding lights of the police cars, firetrucks, and ambulances blended together to form a white noise scoring the flaring thoughts in Hopper's mind. </p><p><i>A Russian threw Joyce outside of the inner chamber. He tried to run toward the door but he was too damn slow, unable to reach her in time. They faught out of Hopper's reach, Joyce's strength and determination genuinely impressing the hell out of Hopper. She somehow got him down, trapped under a fallen piece of scaffolding. For a moment, Hopper couldn't help but sit back and admire, amazed that this unstoppable force of a woman wanting anything to do with him. A bright flash broke out to break him from his thoughts, and a bright white force field was separating the pair of them. The reactor in the center of the room was glowing brighter with every moment. </i> </p><p><i>It didn't take a genius to realize they were running out of time.</i> </p><p>Eleven collided into Hopper before he even realized she was near. His arms closed around her out of instinct, his hand gently carding through her hair while he came back down from his thoughts. She sagged into him with all the weight she could, exhaustion painfully evident in her features. He whispered softly into her hair, trying to come up with meaningful comforts. It was then that she pulled away, her eyes swimming with tears of pain and relief, and spoke a simple word. </p><p>"Joyce?" Hopper's heart dropped, biting his lip hard. He rested his hands on her shoulders, rubbing circles with his thumbs. Eleven's eyes got wide, and the tears slowly began to fall. </p><p>"I'm so sorry kid," he said softly, pulling her back in and tucking her head further into his chest. </p><p>That's when his eyes found something in the distance and something within him shriveled up even further. Two boys, her boys, looking around the parking lot in reserved fear. Jonathan stood with Will slightly behind him, his eyes thin and tired, but undoubtedly searching. He couldn't make out much of Will's face, but in a moment of selfishness, he thought he might not want to. </p><p>But then, he thought of Joyce. He thought of the moments in that Russian bunker, her eyes fixed on his through the haze of that force field. He thought of the gentle, pained look in her eyes as she nodded, slowly and definitively. He didn't even remember the act of turning those damned keys. All he could remember was the way her face stayed steady at his when the blast consumed the room and took her with it. </p><p>There was a silent agreement in those terrible moments, an unspoken promise to take care of their kids, come what may. Hopper wasn't about to go back on that promise. </p><p>He walked to Jonathan and Will steadily, racking his brain for a proper way to word things. It wasn't as if this was completely new to him, he'd given news like this more times than he could count, but this felt like a brand new monster. These weren't just innocent victims of a senseless act of violence. These weren't strangers who were hurting in private, completely without Hopper's input. </p><p>It was bad enough when the people he talked to were just kids, scared and confused at the loss of a parent. </p><p>He didn't even know where to start when the people he was talking to were his kids, awaiting the impossible return of someone he loved too. </p><p>Without thinking, he took off the small hat he was still somehow wearing and clutched it in his hands, hanging his head formally but keeping his eyes straight. He noticed Jonathan's posture change in an instant. Jonathan went from stern and protective, only nervous around the edges to a scared, frozen child, eyes burning with painful recognition. </p><p>Shit, Hopper nearly forgot about that. He'd given this talk to Jonathan before, near the quarry. </p><p>The poor kid knew what was coming, and by his posture alone, it showed.</p><p>"Where is she Hop?" Jonathan asked harshly, anger and tears lacing his voice. Will stood next to him, his posture suddenly uncomfortably small. Hopper drew a deep breath, using every ounce of will power he had left to look Jonathan in the eyes. </p><p>"When we closed the gate... Your mom got stuck behind this... I don't even know, but she... She didn't get back in time. I'm so sorry..." Hopper's voice trailed off as he finished, the words themselves never managing to come out of his mouth. Will started visibly shaking the second he stopped talking, leaning into Jonathan with tears in his eyes. Jonathan hugged him immediately, quickly beginning to whisper soothing words to his brother. </p><p>Hopper was about to leave, the feeling he was intruding creeping through his mind. That is, until he managed to decipher the words themselves. </p><p>"It's gonna be okay, Will. I'm not gonna let him hurt you, okay?" </p><p>"But we can't go live with him. I don't want to leave Hawkins. I don't want you to get hurt."  Will's response was quiet and terrified, tears causing his voice to crack. Hopper's blood ran cold, his hands shaking with rage. </p><p>He didn't even think about that, his confusion and grief and adrenaline blinding him from the practical side of the issue. Of course they'd worry about living with their father again. He knew Lonnie was a dick, hell fifteen minutes in the room with him would tell anyone that, but the fear in those kid's eyes and the pain in their voices  made Hopper's stomach turn. </p><p>He couldn't just stand by and let them go back to him. </p><p>Even though he didn't say anything in that Russian compound, he still made a promise. </p><p>So he turned around, grit his teeth, and softened his face. "Hey, look at me." Hopper's voice was sharp but gentle, leaving absolutely no room for argument. The brothers separated quickly, still leaning into each other and tears still running down their faces. He rested his hands on each of the boys' shoulders, squeezing gently and looking between them earnestly. "You're not going back to him, okay? That's a promise." Jonathan and Will shot him matching confused but hopeful glances. </p><p>"Wha... How are you going to do that?" Jonathan asked softly, almost as if he was checking to make sure he was hearing Hopper correctly. </p><p>"I'm taking temporary protective custody of you two. We can work out something permanent from there. If he wants to try anything he'll have to get through me first." Both boys were frozen for a moment, their minds clearly racing for a response, a way to make sense of it all. When neither came up with anything, Hopper kept talking, "Listen I know you're probably terrified right now, I know you're probably hurting pretty bad. God knows I am too, but... You don't have to go through this alone, okay? I need you to know that." Will let out an awful choked sob, ending in something that sounded like a heave and a laugh all at once. Jonathan's face pinched at the sound like he'd just heard a gunshot. </p><p>"Are you serious?" Will asked, shaking his head rapidly as if to snap himself out of it. Hopper nodded firmly, pulling Will to face him. </p><p>"I couldn't do that to you, much less your mom. I care about you guys," Hopper noticed Jonathan's head sagging near his shoulder, tears falling freely to the pavement. "C'mere kid," he said softly, pulling Jonathan and then Will in tightly. They sagged into his side immediately, letting themselves shrink into their fresh grief. And Jim Hopper stayed with them. Even when his heart threatened to give out. Even when his arms grew sore. </p><p>Even when memories of holding Joyce outside the lab, holding Diane in that horrible hospital, threatened to swallow him whole. </p><p><i>Was it selfish of him to hope that they were together? That his little girl could have the new comfort of a woman he trusted to care for his kids, and that Joyce could have the chance to still be a mother, even after she'd left her own kids behind? Was that a thought he shouldn't have, or would it have meant as much to Joyce as it did to him?</i> </p><p>He pushed the doubt away, pulling the boys just a little closer. </p><p><i>You take care of mine,</i> he thought distantly, rubbing the still shaking Will's back, <i>Cause I'm not leaving yours.</i></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Byers boys settle into life with Hopper, and Jonathan and Hop have a heart to heart that would make Joyce proud.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This was supposed to be a oneshot. Oh well I guess. </p>
<p>Have some more Hopper being a good dad!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hopper still wasn't sure if this was real. There was a strange haze over his every waking moment ever since he walked out of that base, a horrible darkness that threatened to swallow him whole, and take those boys with him.</p>
<p>He could feel the pull of that damned black hole again, tugging harder than it had in years. </p>
<p>This time, though, Hopper felt his mind going to a different place. There was still guilt, still pain. still lingering questions, but this time, there was a force pulling against the darkness, tethers to the world beyond his grief. </p>
<p>And their names were El, Jonathan and Will. </p>
<p>He had to get out of bed every morning, not because he was obligated to make something out of his day, but because he had to make breakfast for the kids. He had to crack the occasional joke, not because one of his jackass partners told him 'get back to his old self,' but because he needed to see his kids smile again. He had to keep going, because they needed him too. </p>
<p>In the days after Sara died, it felt like Jim Hopper's purpose had died with her. That was hardly the case this time. This time he didn't have to, hell he didn't want to grieve alone. </p>
<p>But that meant there was more grief than his own surrounding him. There was Will, whose nightmares were bad enough before all of this, there was Jonathan, who hardly rested at all, and El, who just seemed confused and overwhelmed by it all. </p>
<p>His kids were living in a constant state of low level pain, and as cliché as it sounded, Hopper would have happily taken it all onto himself, fall all the way back down into that hole if it meant those kids would be okay.</p>
<p>But he couldn't do that to them. They couldn't lose him too. </p>
<p>The nights were the hardest, for Hop and the kids. They could distract themselves during the day, do some half-baked activity to allow themselves to forget the pain for a moment, only to return to a suffocatingly empty house. The nights were when the regrets started to  fill his mind, when the blame started to shift back in. And that was the best case scenario. </p>
<p>Because when he wasn't contemplating in silence, he was with one of the kids. He was sitting up with El, trying to fight back against the nightmares he thought they were starting to manage, or he was up with Will, fieldling night terrors of a completely new caliber, or he was up with Jonathan, making a deal with the kid to get some form of sleep. </p>
<p>The first time he'd noticed Jonathan was up before the ass crack of dawn was only two days after Hopper had crawled out of that bunker, two days after he'd given the worst speech of his life. He'd chosen to stay at the Byer's house in those days, not wanting to add the trauma of a move to they boys' already full list of worries. He was about to give into sleep on the couch (there was an available bedroom, yes, but sleeping in it felt like disturbing a memorial, like encroaching even more than he already was,) when he heard rustling in the kitchen. It was barely audible, almost like it was trying to be quiet, but it startled Hopper enough to get him to his feet. </p>
<p>When he turned, his heart softened painfully. It was Jonathan, his hand tightened around a glass of water and his eyes locked on the chief. His posture was tense and flighty, like a deer who'd heard a gunshot. Hopper kept his posture as non-threatening as he could muster, approaching Jonathan with a soft look on his face. </p>
<p>"Shit, sorry. Did I wake you?" Jonathan said distantly, his eyes darting around. </p>
<p>"Wouldn't have made a difference," Hopper said resignedly, leaning his arm on the back of the couch and biting his lip, "I take it you're not sleeping much either?" Jonathan pressed his hands into the counter hard, shaking his head profusely. </p>
<p>"It still doesn't feel real. None of it does." Hopper sighed, nodding solemnly. Jonathan drew a deep breath, lined with more tears than Hopper saw coming. "Half of me feels like she's just gonna come bursting through the door, start chewing you out for leaving her down there. The other half feels like it's gonna be Lonnie, and he's gonna tell me that this is over, that we have to go back with him." Jonathan laughed humorlessly, "Either that or this is all some sort of really bad dream." Hopper sighed heavily. </p>
<p>As painful as those thoughts were, as much as he hated hearing those words coming from someone like Jonathan, he understood the kid. </p>
<p>He understood too well. </p>
<p>He remembered how hard those thoughts are to shake, how quickly they can swallow you whole if you let them. He remembered how empty all the usual phrases felt, hell, how they still feel, how all of the perfunctory comforts only confounded the pain. How they drew him even closer to that damn void. </p>
<p>He'd rather die than let one of those kids anywhere near it. </p>
<p>"Can I show you something?" He asked softly, grabbing a paper from the coffee table. Jonathan sauntered toward him, exhaustion lacing every step. <i>God, how was he still upright?</i> Hopper shook the thought as fast as he could, instead revealing the top of the document to the kid behind him. "You know what that does?" He gestured to the signature, and to a field of small, almost illegible text. There was only one line that Jonathan read before he turned back to Hopper. </p>
<p>"Hereby Authorize the Commencement of Adoption Proceedings...." </p>
<p>Jonathan froze. </p>
<p>"I wanted to wait until the end of the week, ask you over a nice dinner but I figured it was something you needed to hear." Hopper's tone was quiet but stern, making every effort to convince Jonathan that he wasn't bluffing. Jonathan's hands began to shake, a disbelieving smile crossing his face. "I didn't want to turn it in to be processed until I told you two. Didn't want to overstep..." </p>
<p>"No, Hop, no. God, I... I can't believe..." Jonathan huffed in relief, his face beginning to betray his calm demeanor, "It'd be permanent, then?" Hopper nodded. </p>
<p>"Yeah. Lonnie hasn't responded to any of the calls, and his rights were already damn near severed, so they let me move forward with it," he said softly, turning to Jonathan and resting his hand on his shoulder, "Hey, I'm not gonna let you or Will go through this alone, okay? Not gonna happen. I'm not going anywhere..." Hopper trailed off, keeping his voice down, and his gaze soft. Jonathan's eyes were at the ground, smiling and shaking his head. "Everything okay, kid?"</p>
<p>Jonathan huffed. "I was ready, you know." Hopper raised his eyebrow, confused but not clueless as to what he was referring to. "When you told us, I didn't even... It didn't really hit me that mom was... was gone, I was too worried about Will. My head wasn't in the moment, I was... I was psyching myself up." Jonathan's tone was dark and reflective, hallowed with memories Hopper didn't want to expose. But despite himself, he kept talking. </p>
<p>"Psyching yourself up for what?" Jonathan sighed. </p>
<p>"Lonnie." The word hung in the air like a toxin. </p>
<p>Hopper didn't have the words. He didn't want to diminish the kid's suffering, the pain he had to have gone through, but damn was it tempting to tell him to forget that prick, not give him any more power than he already had. But as much as he wanted to deny it, the kid's pain was very, very real. There was a reason for the kid to be afraid. So Hopper didn't dismiss it, he simply opened his arms.</p>
<p>"Hey, hey, you're safe here. Will is too. You're not going anywhere, okay? You're not going anywhere." Hopper repeated it as often as he could, the words sinking into Jonathan more and more with every repetition. </p>
<p>The word "adoption" was floating in the minds of the pair, but remained hauntingly unspoken. To Hopper, it felt like an encroachment. Those were Joyce's kids, regardless of whether or not she was here, and regardless of the circumstances, becoming their legal guardian felt wrong. He was happy to protect them, care for them, be there for them as best he could, but he never wanted to replace her. </p>
<p>He never could replace her. </p>
<p>"Can I ask you something?" Jonathan asked softly, shaking Hopper from the maze of his mind. He nodded, looking Jonathan in the eyes as he pulled back. </p>
<p>"Fire away." </p>
<p>"Were you and mom.... You know, a thing?" Hopper shot him a slightly confused glance, smirking and laughing gently. <i>Was it that obvious? A part of him had hoped Murray was the only person to notice it.</i> </p>
<p>"Nah. Not officially, anyway," Hopper sighed softly, laughing at a distant memory, "You know, she did ask me out right before it all, though," Hopper spared a glance to the calendar, "It was supposed to be tonight." To Hopper's surprise, Jonathan smiled. </p>
<p>"For the record, I would have been happy for you guys. It would have... It would have been nice." Hopper thumped his hand on Jonathan's shoulder firmly, rubbing his thumb over his collarbone gently. </p>
<p>"I'm glad you feel like that, kid. That means a lot," he smiled as the kid wrung his hands together, still smiling at the chief. "Feel okay to go back to your room now?" Jonathan nodded softly, turning from Hopper with his head held slightly higher. He sat back and smiled at nothing in particular, closing his eyes softly and letting his mind drift to a fantasy. </p>
<p><i>He would have picked her up a little before seven, insistent on making a good impression. She would have looked great, and he would have tried his best to match it. He would have treated her to the best wine pairing he could think of, and they'd joke about how pretentious the names of the cheese plates sounded. The second date would be scheduled before the bill came. Maybe they even would have made it official.</i> </p>
<p>The image was a tranquil one, a lovely day with a woman he wasn't sure he could ever forget, but it was relegated to his own little world. The same world where Sara won the science fair. The same world where he got mail every day saying how much promise his daughter had. The same world where Sara taught El the intricacies of being a teenage girl, complete with talking shit about the local boys behind his back. </p>
<p>It was a world where the black hole didn't exist, and if it did, Hopper never encountered it. And even though it wasn't real, that world was one that Hopper held as he could, to visit when he needed. </p>
<p>So, he closed his eyes and drifted there, far away from the doubt and the pain and the fear that permeated his waking hours. </p>
<p>Tomorrow, he'd fight the black hole off once again, but right now, he allowed himself to relax into a fantasy.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I am the biggest sucker for Jonathan and Hop. If you couldn't tell.</p>
<p>Thank you for reading! Not sure how long this is going to be, but I hope it's gonna be interesting! </p>
<p>As always, comments and kudos mean the world to me, and have a wonderful day!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Hopper thought she was gone, that the blast took her from him and from everyone else. </p><p>For once in his life, he was proven wrong, and it felt great.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is the last chapter of this one for now. I had a long week, and honestly, I'm just out here writing reunion fluff just for fun. Hope you enjoy.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For the first few weeks, Joyce Byers was convinced she'd died and gone to hell, but she didn't have time to ponder how exactly she'd sinned. It was always cold, the guards were sharp and rude and didn't even seem to understand her, snapping whenever she faltered in the yard. The work was long and horrible, every part of her ached at the end of every day, the work never having a reprieve.</p><p>But the pain in her muscles was not where her mind wandered in those very few moments when she was alone, allowed the company and freedom of her own thoughts. She never thought of the futility of her new life. She never thought about some grand escape plan. Hell, she never even thought of herself. </p><p>She thought of her boys. </p><p>She thought of happy memories years ago and worlds away, of safety and familiarity and love that she could only dream of returning to. She didn't like to, but she also couldn't help but ponder where they were now that she was... </p><p>Well...</p><p>A stupid part of her hoped they weren't with Lonnie, that somehow, some way they'd been spared living with him, but she knew better. She just hoped they were together. That they weren't hurting too bad. </p><p>That somehow, some way, they knew how much she loved them. </p><p>She tried to hold on to hope as one day bled into another, tried to keep her head somewhat high, but as her time in that awful place extended she could feel the hope seeping out of her and into the concrete floor of the inescapable building.</p><p>She spent almost six months locked away in there. By the end, she was thin and ragged, hardly able to get up without a strain, but the hope in her didn't ever truly die.</p><p>There was still a part of her that held onto the threads. The same part of her that clutched a poorly wrapped ball of Christmas lights in her kitchen cupboard all that time ago. And that part? That part was one of the strongest parts of her, had been for years. Not even this cold hellhole could make that part die. </p><p>So on that day, god knows how many after she'd been locked away there, when she heard her door open slowly and measuredly, so unlike the brute force her captors did nearly everything with, it was as if something inside of her finally woke up from hibernation. </p><p>It only got stronger when she saw. It wasn't just a new face. It was a friendly face. </p><p>It was him. </p><p>Jim fucking Hopper had come to her rescue. </p><p>She doesn't really remember what happened after that. She only remembers somehow getting the strength to go to him, falling into his arms and kissing him without a second thought. Hopper didn't mind in the moment, in fact, he returned the gesture so quickly she could swear that was his plan as well. She pulled away slower than she planned, smiling up at him in near disbelief. </p><p>"It's good to see you too," Hopper said softly, cupping her cheek with his hand and pressing another kiss to her forehead, "Let's get you out of here." </p><p>----</p><p>Touching back down in America felt like a breath of fresh air after months of suffocation. The plane ride was quiet, neither Hopper or Joyce knowing exactly how to follow up the energy in the compound. They both knew the way they were looking at each other in there, the smiles, the <i>kiss</i>. It was too much. Joyce's mind was hardly working well enough to comprehend the fact that she was safe, much less the fact that she'd just kissed Jim Hopper. </p><p>Hell, she didn't really care. That was tomorrow's problem.</p><p>In that moment, her mind was in the same place it was during those awful weeks (months? Who knows?); Jonathan and Will. She wasn't sure if she'd ever see them again, hell, if they even knew she was alive, and now she was going to see them in a matter of hours.</p><p>God, she didn't know what to say. It was almost ironic. She'd had so much time to herself to plan out what she'd tell them if she got the chance, and now here she was, preparing to come face to face with her boys once again and she was at a complete loss for words. </p><p>Sure, she had planned on things to say, but that sounded more like a will in retrospect, and she didn't want to start off like that.</p><p>She wanted to start off hopeful. She had to.</p><p>"They're at the cabin," Hopper broke the silence in the most even tone he could manage. It almost startled Joyce. "Thought you'd want to know." Joyce nodded thankfully, slumping back against the passenger's seat door. Joyce murmured a quiet 'thank you' and let the silence take back over, emotions swirling in her mind. Hopper hung his head next to her, sighing deeply. "Look, I don't know if..." </p><p>"Later, Hop?" Joyce said sharply, her mind moving much too fast to process whatever that kiss was. It didn't by any means upset her, but it was too much, at least for right now. He nodded, clicking his tongue. </p><p>"Yeah.. Yeah that makes sense. Later." They fell into that silence again, not exactly bitter, but miles away from warm. Joyce drew a deep breath, cocking her head and speaking.</p><p>"You know, for the record? I wouldn't mind if we did that again." Hopper smirked, resting a hand over the one she had setting on the console. </p><p>"You know what?...Me neither." </p><p>They pulled into Hopper's cabin at an ungodly hour, jet lag and adrenaline competing for control of their actions. Joyce damn near staggered through the door, Hopper's hand hovering firmly behind her shoulders. </p><p>"Let me get them up," Hopper said softly, allowing Joyce to sit on his couch and collect herself for a moment. Hopper disappeared into one of the adjacent rooms, and Joyce could faintly hear gentle jostling, and then another door slowly opening. She stared at the door, trying to convince herself that it was real, that she was here, and that her boys were right there. </p><p>After all this time, they were right there. </p><p>Will stumbled out of the room first, followed shortly by an equally groggy looking Jonathan. It took only instants for them to realize what was happening. All at once, the family collided with each other, Joyce pulling each boy as close as she could, draping one hand over Will's back and resting the other hand in Jonathan's hair. Hopper sat back against the counter, a part of him feeling as if he was intruding, but another part of him couldn't imagine leaving those kids, much less Joyce. So he stayed, his eyes locked firmly on the floor while they reunited. </p><p>"Mom, I..." Jonathan said tearfully, burying his face into her neck. Joyce shushed him gently, the exhaustion fading to a distant memory. "Shit, this is really happening..." Jonathan trailed off, letting out a noise that sounded somewhere between a laugh and a sob. Joyce very nearly parroted the sound in response. </p><p>"Yeah it is..." Joyce said tearfully, rubbing Will's back and carding fingers through Jonathan's hair. <i>God, they must have gone through hell these last few months.</i> Regret in her eyes, she pulled them ever so slightly closer and whispered, "Did you... Did you go with him? I'm so sorry, you...." </p><p>"Wait, what? No... Mom, we didn't go back to Lonnie." Joyce sucked in a deep breath, shaking her head in confusion. </p><p>"I took care of 'em. I wasn't gonna let them go back to Lonnie, even if the bastard did pick up the phone," Joyce's eyes somehow got even more teary, burying her face in Will's hair momentarily before facing Hopper. </p><p>"Thank you. So much," she mouthed, tears flowing freely down her face. He nodded resolutely. </p><p>"You would have taken care of El if it would have been me," Hop said darkly, leaning on the adjacent wall. Joyce nodded somberly, the words striking her hard. Slowly, the chief left the Byers to themselves, nodding softly to Joyce as he gently closed the door. </p><p>She noticed exhaustion creeping up on her as the breaths of her boys started to even out to the point of slumber. She didn't move, didn't want to after so long apart from them. Jonathan's head rested on her shoulder, and Will was almost curled into her lap, and she felt more content than she ever thought she'd feel again. Hopper returned to the room, smiling when he saw the image on the couch. He hummed to himself, finding a piece of scratch paper and scribbling out a pencil note, flashing it to her as they made eye contact. </p><p>She smirked when she saw it. </p><p><i>Are we still on for Friday?</i> </p><p>Joyce laughed softly, cocking her head and nodding. Hopper beamed, taking a seat in the chair near Joyce and silently waiting for Eleven to return. Joyce simply laid back, continuing her ministrations calmly. </p><p>There were months, long horrible months where Joyce felt nothing but emptiness and pain in that damned cell. She wasn't confident she'd ever get the chance to feel much more again. </p><p>But somehow the nightmare was over. She was here, with her boys and safe on American soil. Back to normal, but that wasn't all. </p><p>She had something (or rather, someone) new with her too. Something that started with a kiss in hell, and would continue with a near forgotten outing on a perfect Friday night. </p><p>If you would have told Joyce Byers just a few years ago that she'd be elated to start her new life with Jim Hopper, she would have probably laughed. But today, she could do nothing but smile as she glanced at the man across from her and pulled her kids in tighter. </p><p>Needless to say, she was looking forward to Friday.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hope you liked it! Thank you so much for the support!</p><p>And yes, the kiss is my personal wishful thinking for season 4. </p><p>Have a great day!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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